#OromoProtests

Petition seeks your signature to demand the release of Ethiopian Oromo leader Bekele Gerba and all political prisoners in Ethiopia

The following is a petition seeking your signature to demand the release of the Ethiopian Oromo political leader Bekele Gerba, Deputy Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), who was recently thrown into prison by the Ethiopian Federal government for a second time as Oromo students in particular, the Oromo public in general, continue to protest against the government’s scheme to dispossess Oromo farmers of their land around Sheger and other localities in Oromia. The petition also demands the release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia. To sign the petition now, click here …

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Demand the Immediate Release of Oromo Peace Activist Bekele Gerba and other Political Prisoners from Ethiopian Prison

To sign the petition now, click here

[Photo Credit: Mahafreen H. Mistry/NPR]

LETTER TO:
– President Barack Obama
– UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
– United States Secretary of State John Kerry
– United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power
– Representative Keith Ellison
– Representative Joe Heck
– Representative Ed Royce
– Representative Chris Smith
– Senator Ben Cardin
– Senator Bob Corker
– Senator Edward Markey
– Senator Rand Paul
– Senator Elizabeth Warren

We urge you to call upon the Ethiopian Government to immediately release renowned peace activist Bekele Gerba from Ethiopian prison.

On the evening of Dec 23, 2015, Bekele Gerba, was at home, reading at his desk in the company of his wife and son when armed Ethiopian federal security forces surrounded his home, entered and searched his house against his will, and forcibly arrested him. His family and witnesses were told that he would be taken to Makalawi, an infamous high security prison where they could visit him in 24 hours. But they were not allowed to see him. The day he was scheduled to appear in court, he disappeared. Later, he was taken to a hospital where word got out that he had been beaten to unconsciousness during an interrogation at a military camp. He continues to be denied visitation. Right now, he is being held incommunicado, and we have grave concerns that his health is deteriorating.

To sign the petition now, click here

Bekele Gerba is the Deputy Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress party and a widely respected peace advocate. He is a renowned voice for nonviolence, urging only peaceful forms of resistance to violent oppression in Ethiopia. He envisions peaceful struggle as the preferred means for attaining democracy, unity, and justice. He has become a significant voice of this generation.

His arrest late December was not his first. In August 2011, following a meeting with Amnesty International about Ethiopia’s human rights violations, Bekele was imprisoned, charged under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism proclamation and sentenced to eight years. Similarly trumped up charges are frequently used to silence any voice of opposition to the government. He was released in late March 2015 upon appeal, and upon his release, he was invited to the U.S. to deliver keynote remarks at an academic conference. He spent a week in Washington, meeting with members of the diplomatic community. He met with Congress members, State Department officials, media outlets and human rights groups. He gave an interview to NPR’s Michele Kelemen about the lack of political space in Ethiopia and to Al Jazeera’s The Stream. Recently, he spoke to Al Jazeera about the Ethiopian government’s violent crackdown on widespread Oromo protests against proposed large-scale land takeovers that will displace millions of farmers.

To sign the petition now, click here

For most of his life, Bekele was a professor of foreign languages. A few years ago, he declared that he could not simply witness the widespread and systematic oppression, ethnic persecution and grievances of his people, the Oromo, and the Ethiopian government’s merciless targeting and killing of the Oromo. Amnesty International reported, “between 2011 and 2014, at least 5000 Oromos have been arrested based on their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government.”

At this moment, thousands of Oromo protesters, students, and political activists like Bekele Gerba have been imprisoned (and continue to be) by the Ethiopian government on trumped up terrorism charges. Dejene Tafa, the legal advisor to OFC, was also recently arrested, as was Addisu Bulala, Desta Dinka, Singer Hawi Tezera, Birra Gemedi, Hailu Adugna, poet Goshu Girma, journalist Getachew Shiferaw, young students Lomitu Waqbulcho and Hirut Tola, news anchor Fikadu Mirkana and many more. Right now, thousands upon thousands of civilians are being rounded up, arrested, tortured or killed by federal security for participating in peaceful Oromo protests.

The U.S. government and the international community must take a stance against such flagrant human rights violations and apply pressure on the Ethiopian government to halt its abuses.

Peace, democratization, and stability are impossible in conditions as such.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”- MLK